[T]wo branches of government are now considering whether to delay forced school mergers under Act 46.
As lawmakers in Montpelier began testimony Tuesday on multiple bills that would delay the implementation of mergers, lawyers for school boards and the state met in a courtroom in St. Albans for a status conference in three lawsuits that could lead to a court-ordered pause of the consolidation mandates.
Superior Court Judge Robert Mello took over the trio of cases last week after Judge Mary Miles Teachout, who was originally assigned to them, flagged a conflict of interest because her daughter is a sitting school board member in Middlesex, a plaintiff district. The change moved the lawsuits from the Washington County court to Franklin County.
The main question now before the court is whether to delay mergers, which are slated go into effect July 1, until the merits of the case are resolved. A hearing on a preliminary injunction filed by plaintiffs asking to put a moratorium on consolidation is expected in mid-February, according to Ines McGillion, one of the attorneys volunteering on the lawsuit jointly brought by over 30 school districts.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in the House Education Committee took testimony from local school officials Tuesday and Wednesday on the same issue. Those who favored delaying mergers said the deadlines don’t allow enough time to do complicated work, and that mergers shouldn’t be imposed until the courts had had a chance to weigh in on the constitutionality of Act 46.
But others argued that the possibility of a delay was itself confusing the budgeting process, and said that granting a postponement to recalcitrant districts would only prolong what had already been profoundly divisive and drawn-out process.
Barre Supervisory Union Superintendent John Pandolfo told lawmakers that his school district had already had a tremendously difficult time planning for unification since the State Board of Education’s November decision, which mandated Barre City and Barre Town’s districts to merge, partly because of problems with the state’s new data management system. To backtrack now and write separate budgets would strain the business office “possibly to the breaking point.”
The merger has seen particularly strong community opposition, mostly in Barre Town. Pandolfo acknowledged that while legislative action would not mandate a delay, he argued that providing that option would upset a fragile momentum forward and lead to confusion.
“Even the fact that we’re having this conversation — that this legislation is proposed — is problematic for our community,” he said.
Penny Jones, a school board member from the Lamoille South Supervisory Union, said that the extra time would give districts enough time to merge carefully if the court cases ultimately didn’t go their way.
In Lamoille South, officials recently voluntarily merged the Elmore and Morristown districts. Jones said that process took about two years, and that officials worry about implementing a state-mandated merger between the Elmore-Morristown district and Stowe in about three months.
“We need to go about this in a thoughtful path,” she said.
But others, like Scott Thompson, a U-32 school board member from Calais, framed his support for a delay in precisely the opposite way, saying he wanted to clear up the “misconception” that the added time “would allow these non-compliant districts to get their act together.”
“We have our act together. Totally. What we came to is that the blasted thing doesn’t work,” he said, referring to Act 46.
Rep. Kate Webb, D-Shelburne, who chairs House Education, said testimony would continue into next week, when she hoped the panel might decide whether to endorse a delay.
Webb said that some districts felt the extra time would “help communities to come together.” But she also added the committee had heard “compelling testimony that a delay would make matters worse,” and expressed frustration that Act 46 continued to take center stage when districts needed to begin work on other, major reforms, including Act 173, which overhauled special education spending and delivery.
“This is a really hard one to navigate,” she said.
